IRA informer got £175,000 advance for book, court told

An advance of £175,000 has been negotiated by convicted IRA killer turned informer Mr Sean O'Callaghan for his autobiography due to be published later this month, the High Court heard yesterday.

Had the Garda acted on information he had supplied, Mr O'Callaghan said he believed the life of Corkman Mr John Corcoran, shot dead in Co Kerry in 1985, could have been saved.

He said his autobiography, to be published on May 20th, detailed Mr Corcoran's murder and the circumstances surrounding it.

He denied the book and his future finances were tied up with his continuing the "story" he had told to the court.

He denied his evidence consisted of more lies and also denied a suggestion he had never met Mr Thomas Murphy and had invented his presence at IRA meetings.

He agreed he had given an incorrect location for an IRA meeting and also agreed there was a mistake in his written statement for the Sunday Times of a conversation allegedly between Mr Murphy and Mr Pat Doherty.

Cross-examination of Mr O'Callaghan continued yesterday on the third day of a libel action taken by Mr Murphy, a farmer, of Ballybinaby, Hackballscross, Co Louth, over an article in the Sunday Times on June 30th, 1985.

The article, outlining an IRA campaign to bomb English seaside resorts, stated: "The IRA's Army Council last February appointed a farmer in the Republic called `Slab' Murphy (which is not his real name) to be its operations commander for the whole of Northern Ireland."

In evidence to the court, Mr Murphy said he was known as "Slab" Murphy. When he read the Sunday Times article, he understood it to refer to him.

In court yesterday, Mr Eamon Leahy SC, for Mr Murphy, pressed Mr O'Callaghan on Mr Corcoran's murder. Mr O'Callaghan said he felt the murder could have been avoided had information he had passed to the Garda in the 18 months before Mr Corcoran's murder been acted upon.

Mr O'Callaghan said claims he had previously made of involvement in the murder were false.

He said he made up his mind to claim responsibility for the murder some time before he handed himself up in summer 1988. He had claimed the murder to provoke an inquiry into Mr Corcoran's death, he said.

He had given an undertaking to co-operate fully with the current murder inquiry.

After the murder, he had been told a version of it by some of those involved. He agreed his previous admissions of responsibility were a lie. He did not murder Mr Corcoran, was not present when he was murdered and tried to save his life several times.

Mr O'Callaghan said, "as best I remember", he had said Mr Corcoran was taken to a farmyard in Kerry and across fields to another house.

He had said he had left to phone his Garda contact and when he returned he was led to believe Mr Corcoran had admitted to working for the gardai.

He had said he then took a tape-recorded message from him, was then taken to Dublin and instructed to go to Monaghan to the then IRA Chief of Staff who instructed him to murder Mr Corcoran. He had said he then returned to Kerry, shot Mr Corcoran in a field and brought him to Ballincollig.

He agreed he had again admitted responsibility for the murder in an interview in 1992. He agreed it was difficult to "get off the hook" regarding the lie. He hoped to meet Mr Corcoran's widow before the book was published. He said he was not involved in making or transmitting a tape recording of Mr Corcoran's "confession". He had thought such a tape was passed on to Mrs Corcoran but had since learned, from either a journalist with Magill magazine or with the Pat Kenny show, that it had not. Mr Leahy put to him that he told radio producer Ms Kay Sheehy he had arranged for a tape of the confession to be sent to Mrs Corcoran and was surprised to learn it had not been delivered.

Mr O'Callaghan said he appreciated that was what he had said but that was not what happened. He was merely repeating what he had previously said and it was a lie. He said it was during that conversation he was first convinced Mrs Corcoran had not received the tape.

If he had told the truth, Mrs Corcoran would have wanted immediate answers and he first wanted to meet the Garda. He denied he first wanted to finish his book.

Mr O'Callaghan said most of the money from the book would not be used for himself. Asked if he had got a bank draft and sent it off to Mrs Corcoran, Mr O'Callaghan said he wanted to see Mrs Corcoran and speak to her himself. He did not believe he had said categorically he would give money to Mrs Corcoran.

Mr O'Callaghan said he had been an agent for the gardai but denied he had been an MI5 agent or double agent. He said there was no such claim in his book.

Asked about a trip to the US with historian and author Ruth Dudley Edwards since his release in December 1996, he said it cost £7,500 and he had paid a minimum of £6,500 towards his costs. The Sunday Times had paid £1,000 for an exclusive story.

In Washington, he met Sunday Times journalist James Adams who arranged a press conference and hosted a press dinner. Mr O'Callaghan said he might have attended at least one private meeting in Washington the following day. He agreed the Sunday Times organised at least part of the publicity in the US. Mr Adams had invited press people to dinner with a view to briefing them.

Mr O'Callaghan said the trip was his idea. He had wanted to inform American and Irish American opinion about the dangers of supporting violent nationalism in Ireland.

Mr Leahy asked Mr O'Callaghan to name any one person in the last 10 years to whom he had consistently told the truth. Mr O'Callaghan said: "It's extremely difficult to give you that answer."